State Superintendent of Education Dr. Hank Bounds vowed to usethe same drive and partnerships that rebuilt the Gulf Coasteducational infrastructure more quickly than expected to realignpublic education to meet the needs of the work force Thursday.

Bounds and Mississippi Economic Council Executive DirectorTommye Dale Favre were the featured speakers during the MEC’sTrailblazer Tour stop in Brookhaven. Brookhaven is one of 25 stopsfor the tour statewide to promote plans to redesign publiceducation.

“We’re going to have to make drastic changes from the statusquo,” Bounds said. “It will take courage. It will take awillingness to dream.”

Bounds took office only days before Hurricane Katrina devastatedthe Gulf Coast and destroyed or damaged more than 265 schools. Bypartnering with parents, businesses, faith-based organizations andothers, Bounds said Mississippi was able to accomplish what manydeemed to be impossible – the reopening of schools before the nextschool year.

“Katrina stripped our pride away and forced us to rely on theseother agencies,” Bounds said.

The state superintendent said he will continue to use the bondsforged during that recovery to redesign education to better preparestudents for their emergence into the work force.

Bounds said there are five key elements in determining thestatus of the state’s education and to provide future economicprosperity to both the state and the young workers.

The first is to review and revamp the state’s curriculum.

“I’ll be bold enough to admit to you that our curriculum doesnot challenge our boys and girls,” he said.

The state Department of Education will issue a new assessmentprocess next year that will require more from students, Boundssaid.

The quantity and quality of teachers and administrators and aculture that undervalues education are other elements, but thesecond key issue the state needs to address is a redesign ofsecondary education that does more to prepare students for the workforce and higher education, Bounds said.

“High schools should be considered as work force developmentcenters,” he said.

Bounds’ redesign plan would alter the Discovery courses inseventh through ninth grades, emphasize career centers and changehigh schools to create “career pathways.”

“Middle school students don’t need to discover technology.They’ve discovered it,” he said. “We think it’s more important toteach students how to use technology to solve problems.”

Online learning would have a much larger impact on schools ofthe future, Bounds said. In addition to providing to high levelcourses – such as physics and honors courses – more consistently toall students of the state, online learning would also help addressthe teacher shortage that is especially significant in poorerschool districts.

“Online learning helps us to level the playing field,” he said.”I don’t believe a student’s learning ability should be determinedby geography.”

High schools would be altered to lead students along seven broadcareer pathways – health care, agriculture and natural resources,construction and manufacturing, transportation, business managementand marketing, human services and science, technology, engineeringand math (STEM).

More emphasis would be placed on vocational studies as well,Bounds said.

The 49 two-year secondary vocational programs would bestreamlined into approximately 10 introductory courses and 20two-year programs by meeting the demands of businesses to provide abroader base of knowledge among students in those fields. Forexample, he said, the separate courses of carpentry, electricianand plumbing and other construction-related knowledge would beincorporated into a single course.

Favre said the MEC would play a crucial role in the redesign aspart of its mission to increase employment in the state throughemployee training and recruitment.